Bashar al-Assad to visit Kim Jong Un in North Korea

The breakthrough announced after a almost 2-hour meeting at the White House between Trump and Kim Yong-Chol, one of North Korea's most senior officials, the highest-level talks between the 2 countries in 18 years.

"(The demand for payment) is an ironic and telling deviation from North Korea's insistence on being treated on an 'equal footing, ' " said Scott Snyder, a Korean expert.

"That letter was a very nice letter", Trump said during the White House news conference.

He also said the issue of human rights was not discussed.

The Japanese prime minster did not use the "maximum pressure" phrase he has repeatedly employed after Trump said following the meeting with the North Korean envoy that he does not want to use that term when Washington and Pyongyang are "getting along".

Trump and Pompeo walked Kim Yong Chol to his vehicle. However, if the meeting does happen then it would be a historic one as it would be the first time that a sitting U.S. President has met with the ruler of North Korea since the Korean War.

Gen Kim was accused of masterminding attacks on the South Korean warship Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island in 2010.

In February, UN experts concluded that North Korea had sent items used in ballistic missile and chemical weapons programs to Syria, along with missile technicians, in violation of UN sanctions. But both nations deny the accusations.

Trump's decision to personally meet the North Korean envoy displayed his eagerness to be at the center of the action for the high-stakes talks.

He later served as director of the General Reconnaissance Bureau, tasked with cyber-warfare and gathering foreign intelligence, from 2009-16.

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